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I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
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<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8395723" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#138 The City of Splendors: A Waterdeep Novel by Ed Greenwood & Elaine Cunningham (Cities 4) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 2/9/21 to 9/9/21</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]143574[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Well, I hated it, then... clever, and I liked it. Then, a little further and... I loved it. Then, at the end... well, I guess. I liked it. Yeah, it was good.</p><p></p><p>So, I hated the hell out of it at the start with the Gemcloaks- shiftless nobles to a man, disrupting the working man's day/life/livelihood, with mucho (macho) violence and stupidity. I was growling- these cannot be the heroes of this book, these... dickheads, this is going to be a hard read...</p><p></p><p>But then the nobles change, or else get rewritten by the authors- they have feelings too, and they recognise how stupid they're behaving (some of them). It's a mite unconvincing but once you get over that hump, and that's why the authors do this quickly (early on in the piece)- to give the reader plenty of time to make the transition. Well, then it got much better- I relaxed into it, and started to really like it.</p><p></p><p>Cunningham doesn't do action, but when she does it's with economy and style- the rest is windy plot, a beautiful (or otherwise) back drop accompanied by a string of new names for the reader to learn/stumble over (lots of them difficult, and they're mainly elven). That's her usual schtick, no offense intended.</p><p></p><p>Greenwood does action- a mile long and wide with it, often memorable more for its silly bits. He also does all of the lore, lots of nice/beautiful backdrop, plenty of new names to learn and even a turn of phrase or two- to bring the realms alive. He also does lots of bad things (again, in my humble opinion) particularly with regard to women.</p><p></p><p>So, Waterdeep lives- as do the people in it, and not just the nobles but also the workers (or else their foreman and his family) so we go places, and its great.</p><p></p><p>The action is convincing, there's nothing that sticks out as overly daft (although, the beholder bit...)- don't get me wrong it gets crazy towards the end with the Walking Statues, well... Walking! But it's not an issue to stick with it, I can imagine DMing this sort of thing, and having much fun with it.</p><p></p><p>Likewise the villain is suitably nasty, although very very odd- not even his son Mrelder thinks he's going to win the war, and tells the reader this at every turn. Also, why the hell is the lad trying to emulate his father, but again- this stuff happens right at the start of the book so the doubts the reader has are made to flee by the steady unfurling of the action.</p><p></p><p>Forget the stuff that doesn't make much sense, read on... here's another good bit.</p><p></p><p>But the best thing about it... women.</p><p></p><p>Strong women that make sense and are never naked (Greenwood). They're fierce and gentle, they do good things and bad(-ish) things, they're soppy (but only early on) and they're tough, and- you get it, they're real people. Not the ultimo-bad-ass-I'm-too-sexy-for-my-bikini-platemail with added frilly bits, for the male gaze/reader.</p><p></p><p>It all gets a little samey-same towards the end, but the action continues to race- even though at times I'm struggling to figure which way the young Beldar Roaringhorn is facing. Is he villain? Is he a hero? Is he an idiot? Is he something worse?</p><p></p><p>So, in summary- lots of Waterdeep, the usual rogues gallery (the Serpent & Mirt, it seemed each author got to chose one old lag to resurrect for this tale), plenty of fresh faces, a bit of class conflict (although that gets squashed), bad ass villains (the Amalgamation gang- Lobster Bob, Tentacled Pete and Slug Man- kidding), and lots and lots of action.</p><p></p><p>It also helps that it's 500 pages long, in truth I'm a little fed up with the usual/optimised 312 pages of the FR series. Authors should be allowed to take their time- when needed, to noodle (a little) and point out a few of the sights, or just inform us of other stuff- world building, character building etc. But that could just be me.</p><p></p><p>I think this was a good one, certainly- for me, the best of Greenwood & Cunningham, together they nailed it (again, for me), most likely Cunningham fought hard to keep Greenwood in line- "This bit where all of their clothes fall off... is it really necessary?" </p><p></p><p>Good (silly) to see Ed managed to sneak in a cave full of Beholders, ah yes... threat inflation.</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well you lovely people.</p><p></p><p>Goonalan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 8395723, member: 16069"] [B]#138 The City of Splendors: A Waterdeep Novel by Ed Greenwood & Elaine Cunningham (Cities 4) Read 2/9/21 to 9/9/21[/B] [ATTACH type="full" width="173px"]143574[/ATTACH] Well, I hated it, then... clever, and I liked it. Then, a little further and... I loved it. Then, at the end... well, I guess. I liked it. Yeah, it was good. So, I hated the hell out of it at the start with the Gemcloaks- shiftless nobles to a man, disrupting the working man's day/life/livelihood, with mucho (macho) violence and stupidity. I was growling- these cannot be the heroes of this book, these... dickheads, this is going to be a hard read... But then the nobles change, or else get rewritten by the authors- they have feelings too, and they recognise how stupid they're behaving (some of them). It's a mite unconvincing but once you get over that hump, and that's why the authors do this quickly (early on in the piece)- to give the reader plenty of time to make the transition. Well, then it got much better- I relaxed into it, and started to really like it. Cunningham doesn't do action, but when she does it's with economy and style- the rest is windy plot, a beautiful (or otherwise) back drop accompanied by a string of new names for the reader to learn/stumble over (lots of them difficult, and they're mainly elven). That's her usual schtick, no offense intended. Greenwood does action- a mile long and wide with it, often memorable more for its silly bits. He also does all of the lore, lots of nice/beautiful backdrop, plenty of new names to learn and even a turn of phrase or two- to bring the realms alive. He also does lots of bad things (again, in my humble opinion) particularly with regard to women. So, Waterdeep lives- as do the people in it, and not just the nobles but also the workers (or else their foreman and his family) so we go places, and its great. The action is convincing, there's nothing that sticks out as overly daft (although, the beholder bit...)- don't get me wrong it gets crazy towards the end with the Walking Statues, well... Walking! But it's not an issue to stick with it, I can imagine DMing this sort of thing, and having much fun with it. Likewise the villain is suitably nasty, although very very odd- not even his son Mrelder thinks he's going to win the war, and tells the reader this at every turn. Also, why the hell is the lad trying to emulate his father, but again- this stuff happens right at the start of the book so the doubts the reader has are made to flee by the steady unfurling of the action. Forget the stuff that doesn't make much sense, read on... here's another good bit. But the best thing about it... women. Strong women that make sense and are never naked (Greenwood). They're fierce and gentle, they do good things and bad(-ish) things, they're soppy (but only early on) and they're tough, and- you get it, they're real people. Not the ultimo-bad-ass-I'm-too-sexy-for-my-bikini-platemail with added frilly bits, for the male gaze/reader. It all gets a little samey-same towards the end, but the action continues to race- even though at times I'm struggling to figure which way the young Beldar Roaringhorn is facing. Is he villain? Is he a hero? Is he an idiot? Is he something worse? So, in summary- lots of Waterdeep, the usual rogues gallery (the Serpent & Mirt, it seemed each author got to chose one old lag to resurrect for this tale), plenty of fresh faces, a bit of class conflict (although that gets squashed), bad ass villains (the Amalgamation gang- Lobster Bob, Tentacled Pete and Slug Man- kidding), and lots and lots of action. It also helps that it's 500 pages long, in truth I'm a little fed up with the usual/optimised 312 pages of the FR series. Authors should be allowed to take their time- when needed, to noodle (a little) and point out a few of the sights, or just inform us of other stuff- world building, character building etc. But that could just be me. I think this was a good one, certainly- for me, the best of Greenwood & Cunningham, together they nailed it (again, for me), most likely Cunningham fought hard to keep Greenwood in line- "This bit where all of their clothes fall off... is it really necessary?" Good (silly) to see Ed managed to sneak in a cave full of Beholders, ah yes... threat inflation. Stay safe and well you lovely people. Goonalan [/QUOTE]
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I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
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